Future Students

Summer Aid, Transferring, and Classes at Two Schools

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The financial aid process is a little different for students who take summer classes, transfer schools, or take classes at two different schools during the same semester. To apply for loans, grants, or work programs, you must submit a FAFSA.

Summer Financial Aid

Limited financial funds are available for the summer terms. The Academic Year includes the Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer semesters. If you have used up your annual award during the Fall and Spring semesters, you probably will not be eligible for summer financial aid. If you were awarded a Pell Grant and didn't enroll full-time for the Fall and Spring semesters, you probably are eligible to receive your "leftover" Pell grant funds during the summer. If you didn't borrow your maximum annual loan offer during the Fall and Spring semesters, you can probably borrow additional loan funds for the summer as long as you take a t least 6 summer credits. Contact us in March or April to discuss your options.

Transferring Schools

Every year, you must file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the next academic year (Fall-Spring-Summer). If you haven't filed this FAFSA yet, just add the new school code before you file it.

Each school and aid agency sets it own FAFSA deadlines. At many schools, you must submit your FAFSA by February 15 to have a chance at any school-based funds. The Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) only awards state aid to students who submit their FAFSAs by March 1. You are allowed to report estimated tax data if you can't complete your tax returns by these deadlines, but if you can get your taxes done earlier, it's much easier.

If you already filed your FAFSA, you must add the new school code to your FAFSA. To add the code online, get your PIN # and go to www.fafsa.ed.gov. To add the code by phone, get the DRN Number that is listed on your Student Aid Report and call the Federal Processor (1-800-4FED-AID). Federal grants and loans can't be directly transferred from one school to another. When your new school receives your FAFSA data, they will evaluate your eligibility for loans and grants from them for the rest of the academic year.

If you will be switching schools in the middle of the academic year, you must also ask your old school to cancel any loans that they have already processed for the rest of the academic year. If you don't cancel your loans at the old school, the lender may still send your loan funds to the old school. Then it will take three to six weeks to return the funds before they can be reissued to your new school.

You cannot receive aid from two schools during the same semester. So if you are attending two schools during the same semester, you must request all your aid from one school. That school is your "home" school. The other school is your "host" or "visited" school. If you will be transferring your host school credits back to your home school, your home school may be able to process your financial aid for the semester, based on your combined enrollment at both schools. If AACC will be your home school, discuss your situation with our office before you submit any forms.

This process is only beneficial if you need us to count the host school credits to receive your aid. Examples: Assume you had 6 credits here and 3 credits at another school. If you had a Pell grant, Pell awards are generally larger for 9 credits than 6. If you were only getting student loans, they only require 6 credits. So, if you already had 6 credits here, there would be no reason to complete the adjustment process. Dually enrolled students must still make tuition payment arrangements with the visited school because the visited school may not allow you to defer your payment to them.